MILLS/MAHAMA REVIVED AND IMPROVED KUFOUR’S HASTILY PACKAGED SOCIAL INTERVENTION POLICIES.

And this was what former President Kufour said and captured on citifmonline “Akufo-Addo is my rightful successor”. Before i touch on details of what the former President said, let me remind friends of what he said in 2007 prior to Npp’s delegates conference to elect his successor. President Kufour advised Npp faithfuls to vote for a Presidential aspirant who is wise and can lead the Npp to win the Presidential seat.t He urged the party’s delegates to carefully scrutinize the persona of the candidates and ensure that the person who is given the nod is a marketable product to both members and the entire citizenry. He also advised them to elect a candidate who can secure victory for the Npp and also win the sympathies of all Ghanaians including the security services.” He also said “We must look for somebody who will continue to hold the party together. We must not go in for anybody who will divide us”. These were the words of President Kufour who strongly supported Alan Kwadwo Kyeremanteng in that very contest. Alan’s main challenger in that contest was Nana Akufo-Addo and the Alan camp led by President Kufour and Kwadwo Mpiani applied all the political theories to make Akufo-Addo’s election impossible. So how does he reconcile the two statements and is he being sincere to himself, his party folks and the nation he once led. I have great respect for the former President because of how he has carried himself after leaving office and this display of insincerity isn’t going to dwindle the high respect I have for him. Is President Kufour per his statement telling Ghanaians part of his governance tuition he offered his rightful successor is

1.The use of hoodlums operating as vigilante groups to terrorise judges, security personnel and innocent citizens?

2.Appointing his family members including his daughter, former wives and concubines into his government?

3.Shielding corrupt officials in his government?

4.His cousin issuing bond with his wife and business associates

5.Endorsing same sex marriage

We shall delve into the economic issues and how his reckless economic policies have collapsed the economy.

President Kufour was in charge of the country when the International Labour Organization and other international organization raised issues with sustainability challenge the National Health Insurance Scheme was going to be saddled with as a result of hasty implementation of the policy. The ILO undertook a financial analysis of the National Health Budget and the Scheme to support the Government’s effort. That financial study and actuarial projection entailed an assessment of the cost involved in providing public healthcare and financing same over a ten year period. In the “improving social protection for the poor: Health Insurance in Ghana” report published in 2005, the report mentioned that rapid growth in membership of the scheme coupled with rising healthcare cost over five year period will result in high expenditure of the scheme ( due to claims and other operational expenses) leading to a funding gap. I hope President Kufour remember this report since it was issued during his tenure. What did his administration do practically about the report and on funding and sustainability. His party vehemently protested against the introduction of VAT in the 90s. The NHIS is currently financed by pooled contribution from a Value Added Tax of 2.5% earmarked National Health Insurance Levy and other sources including social security, contribution from formal sector workers, insurance premium etc. It must also be established that the NHIS under President Kufour and his Npp, excluded certain diseases from the benefit package because they were considered to be be too expensive to treat and it was a mutual policy. The scheme under President Mahama and his NDC saw impressive growth. Out patient utilisation of the NHIS rose to 29.6 million in 2014 from 16.6 million in 2009 and 597,000 in 2005 this is the number of visits made to health facilities in the respective years on the account of the NHIS for only outpatient cases. Under President Mahama, the National Insurance Authority paid an unprecedented Ghc 1.073 billion in claims in 2014 as compared to Ghc 748 million in 2013, Ghc 362 million and Ghc 7.6 million in 2005. Under President Mahama, the NHIA carried out a number of reforms. The establishment of new claims processing centres across the country. It was first established in Accra in 2010 under Prof Mills and expanded to Tamale, Cape Coast and Kumasi with the Accra CPC taking care of claims from Volta and Eastern, while CPC in Tamale manages claims from Northern, Upper East and West, under President Mahama. Under President Mahama, the electronic submission of claims (e-_Claims) was introduced to deal with logistical challenges associated with paper claims management.

I hope President Kufour knows that introduction of the NHIS policy without adequate provision of hospitals and other facilities to enable Ghanaians access the scheme is meaningless. Can he mention one health facility he added to what he inherited from his predecessors especially Chairman Rawlings. Apart from expansion of the scheme, under President Mahama, persons under 18 years, pregnant women, LEAP beneficiaries, the aged, indigents, people in special homes such as the leprosaria and mental health homes were placed under the “exempt group” under the scheme. They were exempted from paying premium. May be the former president has coined a new definition for social intervention otherwise, what is the meaning of a government providing

1.A 617 bed University of Ghana Hospital

2. Expanding Tamale Teaching Hospital adding 400 more beds

3.420 bed Ridge Hospital expansion project

4. 386- bed Bolgatanga Hospital

5.250- bed Ashanti Regional Hospital at Sewua- Kumasi.

6.160- bed Upper West Regional Hospital

7.The District Hospitals

8.District hospital each with a capacity of 120 beds at Dodowa, Fomena, Kumawu, Abetifi etc

9,District Hospitals each with a 60 bed capacity at Tepa, Nkawkaw, Konongo, Salaga, Twifo Praso, and a 100 bed Madina hospital and 120 bed Bekwai hospital. We shall subsequently deal with the chip compounds, the Onuador clinic etc but let’s move on to the School feeding programme

SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMME-

Has he [President Kufour] forgotten that under his watch the Dutch Embassy representing the Queen of Holland, main sponsors of the programme when it was introduced, withdrew the sponsorship because of corruption at the Secretariat, structural paralysis. He should read the report the Dutch Embassy submitted to his office which included how moneys meant for the programme were diverted into private pockets by his officials. It was under Prof Mills and President Mahama that the procurement law was strictly applied with internal auditors placed to ensure effective monitoring and evaluation.

The Mahama administration did not abandoned the programme when the Dutch government stopped sponsoring the programme as a result of funds diversion under President Kufour. Under President Mahama, the school feeding programme increased from 441,189 children to 1,693,000 children and was fully funded by the Government of Ghana. He should find out the state of the programme after the exit of the NDC administration. He should travel to the north and find out from his regional chairman Bugri Naabu, the state of the school feeding programme in his region and also find out why Bugri revealed how chairman Adams was killed and why he mentioned the names he mentioned.
President Kufour will do his image more good if he stays away from this 419 administration. We respect him and some of us despite our issues with how he handled affairs during his tenure, hold him in high esteem. Under his rightful successor, the cedi is undergoing a free fall,kerosene and other petroleum products are now beyond the reach of the masses. His successor promised Ghanaians change but all we hear everyday are complaints upon complaints and commissioning of Mahama projects. Mr Kufour, your rightful successor has failed Ghanaians including yourself and Maa Theresa and President has resorted to putting his immediate family members and close associates in key government positions to milk Ghana dry and build a political empire.

Mr Kufour, I hope you remember how you were chastised by the public over your sons Prepaid metre and Hotel issue? You did not appoint Chief into your government but you saw the castigation. The President’s brother and his current information minister stated Chief’s case as one of the reasons your rightful successor lost the 2008 election. You remember that? Your rightful successor has appointed his daughter into his administration with the rest of the children controlling state oil business all over.

I will be back with the Part 2.